STRONG PROTEST

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 119, 22 May 1942, Page 6

STRONG PROTEST

GUARANTEED PRICE

'INDUSTRY BADLY LET DOWN"

(0.C.) PALMERSTON N., this day,

The feeling that the industry had been badly let down over the increased price for butter and cheese was expressed by the Manawatu Dairy Association.

Members of the Dairy Industry Council came in for some censure, it being considered that their efforts could have been prosecuted to greater lengths in securing a higher price. It was stated that the increase was totally inadequate and no allowance had been made for the increase in the costs of farming. The recent announcement by the Minister of Marketing was that a war cost allowance would be made of id per lb on butter and .31d per lb fin cheese, representing .76d per lb of butterfat. As a rcsidt of these increases the basic purchase prices for the 1912-13 season are: Creamery butter, ]5.39 d per lb; cheese, 8.73 d per lb. These purchase prices represent (on the standard conversion formula) payments to suppliers of JO. lOd per lb for butterfat for buttermaking and 18.19 d per lb for butterfat for cheese-making.

After a discussion a resolution was passed: "That this meeting of the West Coast Dairy Association strongly protests against the action of the Dairy Industry Council over the guaranteed price for butter and cheese. We consider the amount recommended by the council to be totally inadequate considering the increased costs on both factory and farm. We consider that a conference of the industry should have been called before the council reached such an important conclusion without going into the matter of costs more thoroughly."

A copy of the resolution is to be sent to all dairy associations.